OK - everyone else, it seems, eats raw kale. Now I have never tried it because I wasn't over fond of it cooked and I couldn't see it being any nicer raw. I can't juice it in my centrifugal juicer so does it work if I try to blend it?

What would you suggest blending it with as an easy on the taste buds introduction?
I sometimes put a little spinach in my fruit smoothies but not enough to really taste and that's ok.

I am aware that I need to eat more greens but not really sure how to incorporate them. There is a limit to how big a mound of lettuce I can get through in my salads every night

kale goes great with banana, blackberries if you can stand the seeds, or have a blender that can destroy them, and pineapple if theres a good sale on, and I use no sugar added cranberry juice as the base allot of the time... I pre-blend the kale with juice (or water if thats what youd prefer) then put in my fruit...

Id start out with 3 leaves, cleaned, and I dont use the ribs, they are to tough, just the leafy part, I found I was able to use an entire bunch of kale in a single batch of smoothie and still enjoy it, some people tend to have problems with that though, so start out small and work your way up... ^_^

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

My morning smoothie is basically 4 oz of spinach, 3-4 big leaves of kale, 1 or 2 bananas, whatever other fruit I might have on hand, favorite being cantaloupe, and sometimes some cucumber. Blend with 1 - 1 1/2 cups of water and juice of a lemon to prevent oxidation and add some flavor and lemony goodness . Add some honey if you like it a little sweeter. I like kale personally but honestly I don't think I really even taste it in my smoothie. I taste mostly banana and what ever the other fruit is. I use just a regular blender too. Key is to add water first, start the blender and add the ingredients slowly and a little at a time. Doing that way it never binds up.

If you can try hard to get some kale in. It is one of the most nutritious greens there is and is worth the effort.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/2010 08:21AM by Nubster.

Like Kermit sings:
It's not easy being green... (I mean, eating greens)...

As someone who is also trying to eat more dark, leafy greens, today I minced Swiss chard leaves, which are a lot like kale, (I think), and "hid" it is a salad. I also minced a leaf and added it to a wrap filling for some lettuce leaves. Someday I'll get a super blender, but meanwhile, it'll be hiding my Swiss chard like this. I do put baby spinach leaves in my smoothies, though, since they are so easy to blend.


My favorite raw vegan

Thanks for the tips - will cautiously experiment with kale. I have some 'Nero' growing in the garden (dark, narrow Italian Kale) so I will start with that, one leaf at a time

Flipper,

I think incorporating kale into a smoothie is certainly one way to go. If you aren't budget constrained, I'd think about investing in a masticating juicer such as an Omega 8004 ($259) or a VERT ($310). It wouldn't be just for the kale obviously. But unlike a centrifugal juicer (I have one also, it's very convenient), the juice will keep for 3 days or so in a tightly sealed mason jar in the frig. I just got 12.5 ounces of kale juice from 20 ounce of kale leaf. From there, you have a range of choices. You can dilute the kale juice with water and drink it straight, incorporate into a raw soup base, add it to a smoothie.

If you decide just to stick with what you have, one strategy that I have found works pretty well with centrifugals is to cofeed hard produce (e.g. carrots, beets) with green leaves that are folded in rolled into a ball at the same time depending how wide your feed shoot is. I've got an Omega Big Mouth which has a 3" feed shoot so that's easy. When the produce is dense and hard or firm, the centrifugal will work fairly well, like it does on cabbage or romaine hearts. Best.

Paul

Thanks Paul - I would love a juicer such as you describe but I am very budget restrained - that's a one day item!!

I have a wide mouthed centrifugal juicer and I have tried what you suggest a little bit. But honestly the waste from anything that I juice concerns me - I've tried re- juicing it but that doesn't work at all so I put it on the compost. I feel that I am throwing away good food so I rarely use that juicer now.

Marsh's cheesy kale chips are delicious. I have a couple of non-raw food friends who request that I make them when they come over.

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